Computational Scientist & Research Computing Services Manager

Department

Research Computing Center

About the Department

The University of Chicago Research Computing Center (RCC), a unit within the Office of Research, provides advanced research computing resources and expertise to support computational and data-intensive research across the University. RCC enables research through centrally managed high-performance computing (HPC), storage, visualization, and AI infrastructure, along with scientific consulting, user support, education, and training. RCC also helps researchers leverage local, national, and cloud-based computational resources.

The Office of Research oversees sponsored research administration, research development, and contract management across the University.

Job Summary

The job develops front and back-end software structures that scale and integrate scientific workflows in multi-institutional research projects. Uses in-depth knowledge of software development to facilitate solutions to data acquisition, ingestion and data integration from heterogeneous sources.

The University of Chicago Research Computing Center (RCC) is seeking a highly motivated Computational Scientist & Research Computing Services Manager to support faculty, post-docs, and graduate students on using advanced computing technologies in their research. The person in this position will serve as a multi-disciplinary technical expert in supporting and advising faculty on using AI, High-Performance Computing (HPC), and related technologies for their research. The successful candidate will combine technical expertise, faculty engagement, and responsibility for delivering high-quality research computing services. They will also hire, mentor and manage a team of talented UChicago students who assist with user and project support. Working as part of an existing collaborative team at the RCC, the successful candidate will have ample opportunity to advance computational research across the University and contribute to enabling science at UChicago. 

This is a hybrid position requiring 3 days onsite per week.

Responsibilities

• Partner with faculty and research groups, by serving as a domain expert, to identify, develop, and implement computational solutions that advance their research.
• Troubleshoot, compile, debug, profile, optimize, and port scientific applications and computational workflows on AI and HPC systems.
• Contribute to faculty projects, through the RCC Consultant Partnership Program, as assigned.
• Develop, install, test, and maintain scientific and community software in support of research projects.
• Solves user problems promptly and professionally.
• Proactively recommend appropriate RCC technologies and services.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, user guides, and knowledge-base to ensure consistent and high-quality user support.
• May manage staff, including help desk and research data scientists. Set goals and priorities for the team. Responsible for performance management and staff development.
• Hire, train, mentor, and manage a team of talented UChicago student consultant.
• Work closely with faculty to identify, proactively propose and execute solutions to support or advance their research.
• Develop documentation best practices and tools that can be used by others.
• Contribute to the development and improvement of RCC’s systems, services, and operational practices.
• Create and deliver tutorials, hands-on workshops, and other training materials.
• Assist researchers with grant proposals by describing the role of AI, HPC, and related computational resources.
• Participates in the product development life cycle, providing professional assistance to the design of front-end applications and database systems back-end schema. Analyzes high-level system specifications and makes sure that all application development standards are met.
• Works independently to define and document project requirements and provides overall technical guidance in design, architecture and implementation of software solutions.
• Evaluates new technologies and software products to determine feasibility and desirability of incorporating their capabilities within research projects.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Ph.D.

Experience:

• Experience mentoring or managing students.

Technical Skills and Knowledge:

• Proficiency in one or more programming languages such as C++, C, etc.
• Proficiency in a scripting language such as Python.
• Experience with Linux/Unix environments.
• Experience with software design and development methodologies and best practices.
• Experience building, installing, testing, and tuning scientific applications software.
• Experience with compiler optimization techniques, performance analysis tools, and HPC libraries.
• Familiarity with job schedulers such as Slurm.
• Experience with version-control systems such as Git.

Preferred Competencies

• Experience deploying and optimizing workloads on GPU-accelerated systems.
• Experience with AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Familiarity with scientific computing libraries such as NumPy, SciPy, pandas, xarray, and scikit-learn.
• Ability to understand and translate researchers' scientific goals into computational requirements.
• Ability to work well with faculty and researchers.
• Ability to identify and gain expertise in appropriate new technologies and/or software tools.
• Ability to function as part of an interactive team while demonstrating self-initiative to achieve project's goals and Research Computing Center's mission.
• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving ability.

Application Documents

• Resume or C/V (required)
• Cover letter (preferred)

The University of Chicago uses AI-assisted tools to streamline and augment some recruitment processes; however, AI is not used to make hiring decisions.

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Research

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Salary

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FLSA Status

Exempt

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Pay Range

$85,000.00 - $105,000.00

The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history.A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment.Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

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